


Be A Good Boy

by EzraTheBlue



Series: Fictober 2018 [8]
Category: Saiyuki
Genre: Brief Mention of Suicide, Brotherly Love, Gen, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-08
Updated: 2018-10-08
Packaged: 2019-09-06 20:42:31
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 453
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16840057
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/EzraTheBlue/pseuds/EzraTheBlue
Summary: Prompt: "I know you do."Gojyo tries so hard to be a good boy.





	Be A Good Boy

Jien moved slowly through the underbrush behind his house as if he were looking for a rabbit to snare. No, the creature he was looking for was much more shy, much more fragile, and had already had his neck nearly broken once today. He halted when he thought he heard something human under the rustling leaves: a snuffling, whimpering sound. Jien looked up and saw Gojyo up a gnarled, lightning burned tree, hugging the trunk for all his tiny little arms could. His heart ached; Gojyo was only five, he shouldn’t have to know the meaning of mortal fear.

Jien scaled easily to perch on the branch beside Gojyo, but Gojyo didn’t look at him, his eyes too clouded with tears to see. Jien didn’t bother asking him what was wrong. He knew. The visible bruises on Gojyo’s face, neck, and arms told him enough, not to mention the bruises Jien couldn’t see but that Gojyo’s little hand was pressing at.

“Jien,” Gojyo said after a minute, and Jien felt his own name like a knife to his breast. When Gojyo called for him in these moments, he hated his own name more than anything else. “Jien, why? I try to be a good boy, I do everything she says, I do…”

“I know you do.” Jien scooted closer, then picked Gojyo up and sat him on his knee. Gojyo was shaking, but he clung to Jien now. “It’s nothing you’re doing, kid, she’s just–”

“I haven’t done everything she said,” Gojyo mumbled into Jien’s neck. “She told me to jump in the river and not come up. She told me to die. She’ll… she’ll stop if…”

Jien shook Gojyo, then forced Gojyo to lift his face and look at him. “Gojyo, no.” He petted Gojyo’s hair, and winced when some of the red streaked his hand, wet and thick. “It’s not about what you do. Sometimes, it’s about what you don’t do.”

“What shouldn’t I do?”

Jien tightened his hold on him. “Don’t die, kid.” He squeezed him tighter. “She might never warm up to you, but keep living, no matter what you do. See, she might not see it, but I know you’re super good at living, so I want you to keep doing that.”

Gojyo hugged Jien back, sniffling again, and Jien winced and held him back, not thinking about the next time his name might be called, not thinking about how he would have to calm mother to coax her to let Gojyo back in the house, but just about his precious baby brother. Gojyo was only five. He had a lot more living to do, and Jien would help him do it, no matter what it cost him. 


End file.
